Dragon Ball Z Cell... Wasn't that bad a guy?

[Beerus]

An interesting look back at Cell and his abnormal polite demeanor. I never gave it much thought myself but this video brought up some pretty valid points. He was unusually polite for being a bad guy though Frieza was somewhat the same in terms of manners. He may have been heartless and ruthless at times but he was always proper spoken and held true to his own manners and morals.

Do you think there was more "good" in Cell than what we were actually led to believe? Maybe Goku's kind-hearted energy is responsible for this...
Or maybe it was just Frieza's polite manners shining through. Thoughts?

 

[Yoshi]

Cell is definitely less of an evil villain compared to Freeza. For one thing, Cell’s morality was more gray than Freeza’s considering he was a life form created in a laboratory, whereas Freeza sees things in black and white (in the bad way) because he knows all about morality, he just chooses to discard it.

I’ll watch the video later.

 

[LividJay]

I think part of it has to do with the fact that he has Saiyan cells. He wants to be able to fully test his abilities, so he gave the Z Fighters an opportunity to get stronger. Just a small aspect of it (I haven't watched the video). He only had one goal and that was to achieve his perfect form. Meanwhile, Frieza wants to enslave and rule.

 

[Super Kami Guru]

I'm inclined to agree with the motivation aspect of things. Cell wasn't driven to rule the galaxy, he was simply driven to achieve perfection (in his mind), and so goals such as domination aren't as pervasive as they were with Frieza or even Vegeta during the initial Saiyan saga. I wouldn't go so far as to call him a good guy, he isn't, but certain issues were, perhaps, "beneath" him and his goals.